LONDON (AP) — Tesco PLC, the British grocery chain that recently began a rollout of stores in the United States, reported yesterday that its burgeoning international operations underpinned strong third-quarter sales.

Sales at Tesco's stores in Britain, where it dominates the supermarket sector, were also positive despite a general slowdown in consumer spending as shoppers respond to rising interest rates and surging fuel costs.

The grocer said in a trading update that group sales for the 13 weeks ended November 24 were up 11.8 percent.

Sales at British stores open at least a year, excluding petrol sales, rose 4.1 percent as Tesco expanded its range of non-food goods.

That put Tesco ahead of the pack — a British Retail Consortium report also out yesterday said that sales at British stores open a year or more rose just 1.2 percent in November, little changed from the previous month, when revenue increased at the slowest pace since November 2006.

A number of British companies, including jewellery chain Signet and restaurant group Clapham House, have issued profit warnings.

Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy said the company, whose 31.5 percent market share almost equals that of closest rivals Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Asda and J Sainsbury PLC combined, has "maintained pleasing progress during the third quarter across the group."

"Overall sales growth has strengthened in the period, with International delivering a particularly strong performance, and the UK has again done well, with good growth in our core food categories."

The company added stores in Eastern Europe and Asia over the period and also opened its first stores in the United States.